We never get tired of reading stories about pure-hearted underdogs rebelling against a vast, evil empire. Except when we start to suspect that the rebels are just too dumb and incompetent to let them be in charge. Here are 10 evil tyrants who are actually better rulers than the rebels trying to replace them would be.

Two years before his death, legendary science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov kicked off a TV pilot dedicated to exploring the faint and ever-shifting boundary separating science from science fiction. By highlighting advances in science and technology, Asimov sought to prepare viewers for the world of…

Click to viewThe problem with science fiction is that it cares too much about the past. Or, at least, that's the argument being put forward by SF writer Ian Sales, who's growing more and more concerned about the reverence that SF fans have for "classic" SF that's possibly past its sell-by date. Ready to see some of…

Is the future of science fiction writing totally dependent on the internet? After looking at the (falling) sales figures for magazines like Analog and Asimov, comic book writer and novelist Warren Ellis argues that it's time for people to realize SF magazines are dead — except online.After summarizing what he…

Sounding either like an old man or a writer desperately trying to generate controversy to promote his new novel, scifi author Brian Aldiss has announced that reality has not only caught up with, but potentially outpaced, science fiction as a genre.

With robots becoming more and more sophisticated—Robodinho anyone?—scientists are working to come up with a code of ethics to be programmed into robots. This has shades of Asimov's Three Laws, and bigger science fiction nerds than I can clarify whether they were to be taken at face value or more of a lesson that…